The Mayor provides comments and insights on happenings in Midland Ontario.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Sunday November 19, 2017

Ladies and Gentlemen

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Hope you’re ready. As you will see below, this
week kicks off the festive season with parades, parties and tree lightings. Please
come on out and be a part of our small town Midland Christmas.

The
Week Ahead

On Monday the 20th our Physician
Recruitment group meets at 8:00 am at GBGH. At 5:30 pm Big Brothers Big Sisters invites
you to their AGM at the Penetanguishene museum.

Tuesday sees the start of the 2017 edition of the
Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) program .Our Midland Police will be down at the launch
event in Innisfil: showing us the importance of making our roads safe for all.
At 7:30 pm a Day in the Life hosts Tim Danson at the MCC. Mr. Danson is a near legendary
lawyer who has played a key role in Canadian history. He has represented the families of Kristen French and Leslie
Mahaffy (victims of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka), equestrian Olympic gold
medalist and world champion Eric Lamaze, hockey superstar Bobby Hull and track
and field superstar and Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis.

Wednesday the 22nd sees another special
salute to our veterans. Askennonia is hosting their annual Veterans Lunch at their
NSSRC location. Vets are free - all others pay a $15 cover charge. And then we
swing into Christmas with the magical lighting of our Town Christmas Tree. The fun starts at Neezhoday Park at 5:00 pm
including the Midland Public Library and Cafe Roxy providing hot chocolate,
crafts, music and more! Lighting of the tree will take place at approximately
7:00 pm.

On Thursday November 23rd I will be in
Toronto for a discussion with our government about Midland’s developing cruise
ship industry. But lots going on in Town. From 10:00 am to 1:00 pm the NSCFDC Speakers
Series presents “Tame the Paper Monster” – a new technology to manage and
access electronic records and services. The event takes place at Midland Public
Library. Please register at www.nscfdc.on.ca

At 5:30 pm the annual
First Light event kicks off at Sainte-Marie and the Martyrs’ Shrine. The event
runs from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. from November 23 to 25; from November 30 to
December 2; and from December 7 to 9. For more information visit their website
at www.hhp.on.ca. At 7:00 pm you are invited
to a joint Council discussion (councils from Penetanguishene, Tiny, Tay and Midland)
to hear how the province’s changes to the Provincial Growth Plan will affect us.
The meeting takes place in the Library’s
assembly room.

Friday the 24th features the Town’s Christmas
staff party at the NSSRC. At 7:00 pm be
sure to take in the “Coal Patrol” at the MCC.It features our own improv troupe Good Morning Apocalypse taking a satirical
look at the Christmas season.

-9:00
am to 1:00 pm - The County of Simcoe is
recruiting volunteers to enhance and enrich the lives of clients in our
long-term care homes and seniors programs. The event takes place in the Georgian
Manor front lobby, 101 Thompson Road, Penentanguishene

The first phase of the Service Delivery Review is reaching
a critical point with the findings to be released in a special afternoon meeting
of Council next Monday the 27th. Quite an emphasis on using modern information
technology to significantly improve the efficiency of how we do our work at
Town Hall.

Budget

The
County has just about completed its 2018 budget with a tax rate increase of
just over 1 per cent. As I had mentioned earlier, the Town will not get into
its budget debate until early 2018 – too much going on this fall. Will have to
see if we can keep our own tax increase in line with the County’s.

*****

While Hallowe’en may be a distant memory, our
neighbours over at Huronia Historical Parks report that their Pumpkinferno event
was a “spooktacular” success.They
welcomed
18,336 visitors, an increase of 44% from 2016. The economic impact was $1.3
million to the local economy including an estimated 16% of our visitors spending
the night in the area. Some 66% of the visitors came from outside of North
Simcoe.

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Midland Ontario

About Me

I was born in Gander, Newfoundland, and have been privileged to live in many regions of Canada. My career started as an Officer with the Department of National Defense, moved on to senior management in operations with Bank of Montreal, Principal with KPMG and then President of two start-up companies, one in B2B marketing and the other in sports technology.
Since moving to Midland in 2001 I have been involved in the community in many capacities: - Director, Out of the Cold – Chair, Martyrs’ Shrine Board of Trustees - Chair, Huronia Foundation for the Arts – Founder, Zero Waste Simcoe - Chair, St. Margarets Cemetery Board - Founder, Economic Development Association of North Simcoe. My political career started as a municipal Councillor in 2006 and then successive terms as Mayor in 2010 and 2014.
My wife Cathy and I have been married for 43 years and have two adult children. When time permits I pursue personal interests in cosmology, virtual reality development and gardening.